by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

Nearly half, or 48%, of Pennsylvania voters approve of the way Toomey is handling his job, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Friday. That's the highest job-approval rating for the Republican, whose proposal crafted with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., fell short in the Senate.

Toomey's job-approval rating is actually up 5 points since March, the poll shows.

Toomey, a conservative elected in 2010, was one of four Republicans who bucked their party and voted for the proposal pushed by President Obama. The gun bill was a response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead.

The Quinnipiac poll also found that Pennsylvania voters approve, 34%-29%, of the way Toomey is handling the push for gun control. When Toomey and Manchin introduced their plan to expand background checks, the Pennsylvania senator said he didn't view it as gun control. He said it was just "common sense."